”la Caixa” Foundation Awards for Social Innovation

At ”la Caixa” Foundation we believe that social innovation should be measured by its potential to transform and the capacity of organisations to improve society's problems, aiming to empower beneficiaries by creating synergies between organisations and encouraging them to engage with the community. Another variable we believe defines social innovation is the fact that the initiatives promoted by such organisations can be rolled out to other areas.

Consequently, as part of the Programme of Subsidies for Social Initiative Projects, we promote the ”la Caixa” Foundation Awards for Social Innovation in order to support the important work carried out by social organisations that offer innovative solutions to the challenges facing society today.

A total of ten awards are given, to the value of €15,000.

The different projects are evaluated and selected by a jury made up of people from the third sector, research and educational centres, public authorities, CaixaBank, ”la Caixa” Foundation and the media.

The ”la Caixa” Foundation Awards for Social Innovation are aimed at social organisations that have been chosen for any of the programme's General Calls, offering innovative approaches compared with the existing responses provided in the areas of action covered by each call.

A large number of organisations have their own definition of what "social innovation" encompasses. A wide range of initiatives fit within this concept, from those that improve the results achieved by traditional approaches to others that reinvent disruptive responses, as well as systematic initiatives that raise questions regarding existing structures or models.